I'm having some pretty bad problems with instability in applications under 6.5.30 on my Octane(2) - Dual 300Mhx V12 DCD 1.75gb. The nekoware Seamonkey and Firefoxes (latest versions off nekoware) will just crash when I try and open a google search for example (single tab, just booted and opened up the search window. The apps just crash and dissapear. But the one thing that's really annoying me is when the montior gets turned off for power saving, I can't wake it up again (keyboard, mouse don't wake it). The machine still responds to telnet, it just won't wake up.

The most annoying thing is that it's just been rendering all night and I can't get the damn image off it

I've done a lot of upgrading since I originally installed it (new IP board, new Xbow 1.4, new graphics, new memory - still the same case ). Do I need to do a fresh IRIX install, or is there anything else that I can try? Or (worst case) is this just normal?

Oh, one other thing that crossed my mind. I've now got 2 x 512Mb and 6 x 128Mb modules installed (all newer, small sized). I tried 4 x 256 large modules alongside the 2 x 512 in there and the machine wouldn't even boot. Could the mix of memory modules be part of the problem?

Try the memory sticks one pair at a time until you chase down the bad stick. Sounds like it is the 2 x 512 pair since the problems are following those. (i.e. remove the 512 sticks and see if that solves the problem)

OK, tried the memory and it doesn't make any difference. Still just as unstable. I think that I'll go for a rebuild....

Slightly more worryingly, I've noticed that with the DCD DVI connected, after about a half an hour of usage the screen flickers and then goes off. I haven't seen the same behavior when I use the 13w3. Looks like either a dry joint or something heat related.

iffy50 wrote:...my Octane(2) - Dual 300Mhx V12 DCD 1.75gb....when the monitor gets turned off for power saving, I can't wake it up again.....I've noticed that with the DCD DVI connected, after about a half an hour of usage the screen flickers and then goes off

Perhaps a long shot - but maybe your instability problems are power related. You didn't mention the power supply in your list of upgrades (or did you already have the second generation version?).

Yup, it's got a Cherokee in there. Rebuild's in progress, so here's hoping that it'll do the job. Interestingly, I've got a basic server installed without 4dwm and it only sends video output to the dcd, not the 13w3 (foxed me for a bit, that one, I had the wrong connector in). but with the dcd and a cut down x11, the screens stayed happy for an hour or so. Could be good news, but I'm not celebrating quite yet.

Anyway, I'm doing the rest of the install now, so let's see what happens.

Interestingly, when you do a fresh 6.5.30 install and forget to open up the applications cd, then it will install. You just don't get any of the normal desktop. Somehow the dependancies will resolve. Live and learn...

It probably won't solve anything but if you happened to have the MIPS Pro compiler suite or happen to have the dbx debugger. Run the application under the debugger. Where it crashes might give you a hint for example if it crashes in malloc or new then look at the memory.

In a winterm try:

dbx firefox

Then post back the results. It could be anything, something simple like missing or corrupt LD_LIBRARY_PATH or corrupt libraries refusing to load, memory faults, something I could not even guess at..

Right, all up and running with a fresh build and all seems to be much better. No crashes on anything so far, although I haven't done exactly exhaustive testing. However, I'm typing this from Seamonkey, and there's no way that I would have got that far before. If I get any problems again then I'll try the debugging.

I've still got an 'interesting challenge' around the V12 and DCD, but I'm going to stick that in a different post as it's not directly related to this subject.